This is gonna be one of those episodes where we as adults should know how relatable this is. More on that in the introduction portion of the review. But first, with Spring right around the corner at the time of posting, we all want new and exciting things to take charge of our lives, no matter the category. Too bad for us here in America, we don’t get that. We get the reverse. You could say that it’s us, rather I, complaining since I never voted for that ass hat to have a return to power this past November. That and having to not having to worry about potential burnout just because of how screwy the scheduling has been handled since the start of the season. And no, this isn’t a cry for help, it’s pretty much me running out of ideas to kick off the review before getting into the episode itself. Speaking of which...
In this week’s episode of The Great North, the Tobin kids learn things the hard way when attempting to give adulthood a try with Moon moving out after an argument with Beef and attempting to live on his own as Judy and Ham try to raise some money for themselves by becoming landlords in my spoilerific review of the fifth episode of Season 5 of The Great North, titled “Bust a Moon Adventure”.
So yeah, quite relatable the episode was for this week regarding the world of adulthood. Growing up, we all were all gullible. Gullible to the tee that we all thought when growing up that being an adult should be great because once you turn 18, you get to do whatever the fuck you want as if you don’t want to feel restricted by living in the same room as your parents. But once you turned 18 and graduated high school, whether you went to college or pursued a job right away, those aspirations about wanting to enjoy the grown-up life ends up becoming a fucking lie. Especially if you grew up in the US and had to deal with a lot of bills for the house, the car, electricity, water, internet, groceries, gas, cable/streaming, insurance, and so on. It’s not that great thinking about it, huh? Especially in this economy on the verge of a freaking recession.
And in this week’s episode, we pretty much see the Tobin kids learning the hard way on the notion that they’re not ready for the adult world... yet. The two plots speak for themselves. Especially with Moon once he decides to move out after getting into an argument with his father and we’ll get to that scene just moments away but that was the trigger for Moon for wanting to move out. All of it because he doesn’t want to feel restricted even though he’s a kid but that won’t stop him from wanting to give the adult world a test run and wanting to give the first taste of freedom from being told what to do. Even though that doesn’t seem to be the case because of how society loved to fuck us and make everything a freaking hurdle. You can thank our grandparents and parents’ generation for not making things easy for our generation and going into the next. Especially when struggling to make ends meet. Other than that, Moon learns it the hard way with his plot and the same goes for Judy and Ham once Moon leaves for them to make a quick couple of bucks for themselves with their subplot. All while Beef is getting a front-row seat to all of this. Might as well break the episode down piece by piece in another installment of breaking the episode down. This is “Bust a Moon Adventure”.
The episode starts at night with things already not looking good for Moon once he confronts Beef at the table. Just the two of them alone in the middle of the night and for a moment there when watching the episode the first time, I thought it was going to be one of those episodes where we have to trace back to the beginning to see how we ended up here but one of the promotional images shows Moon in his formal attire and this one shows him in his usual bear onesie. So that option is off the table the moment the episode came on.
As for how Moon ended up where we are at the start of the episode, here’s what happened: Beef was enjoying his sleep, dreaming of being a medieval blacksmith’s apprentice when he was disrupted by the sounds of something odd in Moon’s room. He checks the room and turns out that it hosted a mini-zoo at home. It’s mostly because he thought Moon would have an in-school sleepover with his friends so they could “study”, which any parent should know by now just watching sitcoms like this one that it’s pretty much code for sneaking out and doing stupid shit. What Moon and his friends were doing that led to everyone getting into trouble fits that mold. Especially once he got the call from Edna that Moon and his friends snuck out of the house and went on a joyride across town.
We see that with Moon and the others climbing down from the roof from the window where Moon’s room is located and everyone went down swiftly when using the rope, unless you’re Russell who tripped down to the ground hard in the snow-covered ground and if you think that all that snow would cushion his fall, well you’re wrong. It caused him to fracture his arm to the point where once Moon and his friends got caught returning home that Russell had to be transported to the emergency room to get it patched up. And instead of alerting Beef to take him to the hospital, which would result in them getting into trouble just for sneaking out, they decided to take the Zamboni out of the shed, if you remember from last season, Moon bought the Zamboni with his oil dividend money, and decides to go on a joyride across town like it’s the freaking Hangover movies.
Going across town and wreaking havoc at 5 mph but it can bulldoze anything that stands in its way while on the streets. Getting some snacks, crashing through the hedges, completely knocking them and possibly destroyed just by cruising across the garden, and claiming a victim in the form of the town’s automated delivery robot without even seeing it knowing how high the driver’s seat is when driving the vehicle. While yes, no one got it while being on the open road aside from Russell at the time still needed to get his arm treated so he could put on a cast, it was rather reckless for Moon and his friends to do something like that where not even Louise Belcher can pull something like that, to the point where Beef had to call Moon by his government name by calling him “Moonathan”. The naming community might as well be in shambles upon hearing that to the point where they have to look at themselves in the mirror and think that Judy is the only one that makes the most sense until we get a reveal of her full name that it’s not going to be surprising if it’s not Judith.
So yeah, Moon did a lot of reckless things for one night with his friends, three of his friends being the ones we’re usually accustomed to in the forms of Henry, Russell, and Debbie, though we’re not going to pretend that there’s five of them now with the addition of Quinn, which, poor Quinn for missing out on that night out but I guess breathing a sigh of relief that she won’t be getting into trouble because she’s absent in this episode. Beef decides to punish Moon by grounding him, which isn’t a serious punishment but because Moon did a lot of crap and apparently, this is his third offense this month alone, three offenses is pretty much three strikes, again, pretty much giving Louise a run of her money when it comes to the rebellious side of things, but this is his first time getting the ruling since he was the only mature member of the family up until this moment and for Moon, he’s not taking it lightly. Especially since the ruling will last indefinitely, though you could’ve just said grounded until college.
Of course, Moon doesn’t like it and argues with his father because he wants to taste some freedom in his life to do whatever he wants. Pulling the “I thought this was America” card and says that an adult would do whatever they want and that’s what Moon wanted, to be treated as an adult. Beef is calling cap but giving him a chuckle and well... he has a right to do that because we’re all adults here. We all thought that being an adult would be easy growing up until you graduate high school and go into college or get a job right away, and that’s where reality decided to dropkick you from the harbor to the sea of regret and doubt. I’m saying that we were all calling cap on Moon’s claim but that’s not going to stop him as the episode progresses.
We transition into the next day with everyone at the breakfast table with the adults eating their dinner, once again, no Aunt Dirt this week but she’ll be back next week and next week is her first episode as the main lead since joining the show, so don’t worry. Anyway, we’re pretty much setting up the subplot to Ham and Judy rather than anyone else because you have them coming down the stairs and seeing something on their phone that caught their attention and this also ties into what we are going to witness later on in the episode. They're eyeing a couple of mini-fridges that they want in their respective room after seeing the fridges on the show’s version of TikTok. And they ask Beef if he can lend them $400 each, a total of $800, and divide by two, to place an order. Of course, Beef would go and shoot the offer down. His reason is mostly him saying that they already have a fridge and they can use the outside fridge, he ain't paying for shit because there's no way he's going to pay that amount for a couple of mini-fridges, let alone the one Judy and Ham saw on video just because it's trendy and neat looking and a celebrity like Timothée Chalamet used one of these special fridges. So, Imma cut to the chase, they gotta need jobs. More on that going into the second act of the episode.
Honeybee asks Beef where Moon is at since he is absent from the breakfast table. Beef replied that Moon is still upset over getting grounded for the stuff he pulled last night going on a joyride across town and causing hundreds of dollars in damages. He gave Beef the silent treatment earlier in the morning before deciding to walk to school rather than get in the car there.in He is still upset over getting his first grounding in his entire lifetime and all this because he just wanted to do a little chaos without knowing the consequences that came with the issue across the town. And just be lucky that it’s minimal damage and one non-life threatening injury from Russell that the only casualty is the delivery robot because if something did happen to the point where things had gotten serious... then we would be looking at a different story.
Hours later going into the school at lunchtime with Henry, Russell, and Debbie already got their punishments settled after a night out causing chaos. For Russell, it’s pretty much light for everyone but him. His punishment would be to not see his mom’s boyfriend Jaime play Xbox, which again, does sound like a light punishment if you think about but to him, it’s pretty much harsh. Henry’s punishment would be losing his horror movie privilege and having his set taken away. Which to Henry, his mom tried to get rid of it, and being caught after doing some reckless actions with Moon in tow would be the perfect excuse to get rid of it. Pretty much the same way how back in the day and probably continued to this day some people often blame violent video games for criminal behavior. And then we have Debbie, whose punishment is pretty much her doing chores around the house. Again, a light punishment unless you’re a kid and you’d probably think it’s prison labor. Just be lucky that the episode doesn’t do a “Scared Straight” type of episode if y’all remember that show, because again, that would be a different story.
And then, of course, Moon as we know, got grounded indefinitely and got a shocked reaction from his friends at the table since it is the first time in his lifetime that he had been grounded just for causing chaos as if he and his friends are doing it for clicks. Out here thinking that you’re the freaking Paul Brothers. Moon, as we know already since the start of the episode, is not happy with the idea of him being grounded and, of course, already concludes that he doesn’t want to be treated as a kid. He doesn’t want to follow the rules and wants to be free to do whatever the fuck he wants. Speaking like a true American. Case in point, Moon wants his independence and is poised to do just that. Usually, it would result in him getting his things, having that stick and putting your stuff in a bandana as luggage, and going right the fuck off to a nearby railroad to hop on a train. To the point where a missing persons report would have to be filed. No, no, Moon got a trick up his sleeve for him to get out of the house and it comes in the form of an old Alaskan law from a very long time ago.
According to Moon, it was used when child labor was still a thing, and sadly it’s making a comeback, currently making a comeback, and it was useful back in the day for kids who had to work in factories as the scene here with the kids working on the assembly line. The law that Moon brought up says that anyone who is 10 years old or older who is under the age of 18 can legally move out of their parent’s homes and become independent. Here’s what the Alaskan law has to state in the graphic below...
Yeah, y’all are pretty much dumbfounded as I am when checking up on this law because there is no way that is an actual law or had to get rid of it leading up to Alaska becoming a state. It’s a thing. It’s a freaking fracking thing. However in comparison to the Lone Moose version of the law versus the actual Alaskan law: in Lone Moose, all it took is to sign the form and chip in $3 to pack your bags and get out. Whereas the Alaskan law, the age requirement would at least be around the age of 16, which Moon would not meet but because Lone Moose got a different version of the law...
Especially once school ends and Moon, all dressed up in his formal attire, asks Mayor Peppers to give him his form to sign as if he’s planning to attempt to persuade Peppers so that he can’t say no and let Moon do whatever the hell he wants. Though he said to Moon that he shouldn’t buy some sort of helicopter for him to use as if the place he is expecting to move would have a helipad on the roof or just a dozen feet away from the building. But Moon did have a speech prepared for him to persuade Peppers to give him the document for him to sign. Funny enough, no speech is needed because instead of needing to get Beef involved and probably turn it into a confrontation just to get permission. But nope, just sign the form, chip in only $3, and you’re good to go. You’re probably baffled when seeing that but that is actually the criteria if you’re a Lone Moose citizen.
We reached the end of the first act of the episode and the declaration is about to become official once Moon rejoins his family on the Mighty Beef. Telling the rest of the family that he is announcing that he is officially an adult and is expected to move out of the house. And if you think that Beef would put his foot down and say to Moon that he shouldn’t do this and that he’s too young to take care of himself to be the man of the house 24/7, tell that to what happened the last time that he tried to be the man of the house when he Home Alone the place, only to end up falling for the trap himself, apparently, Beef is fine with it. He just gives Moon the green light to move out since according to Moon, the house he’ll be going to will be a guest lodge owned by Delmer, which shouldn’t be too far from the Tobin household but it’s still a shocker from the rest of the family that Beef is okay with Moon moving out of the house. Not knowing that Beef is plotting something that is tying in with what Moon is doing now that he’s a free man. But for now, ending the first act of the episode, Moon is out of the house and he is now a free man. It’s now going to come down to how long this experiment is going to last. Spoiler alert, give it until the end of the episode.
We get into the second act of the episode with Moon now moving into the guest lodge owned by Delmer as he gives Moon some ground rules to keep the place in tip-top shape. It mostly comes down to don’t touch the Smurfs figurines in the basement as the only important ground rule when moving into the lodge but everything else, the whole house now belongs to Moon, to rent of course with the price at only $500/month, which almost sounded like a deal to rent a place that can house only one person. Two people if they can share the rent and were to either share the room, sleep in the living room, or the basement. But $500/month seems to be a reasonable price for a lodge rather... what? About $600 up to $1000/month just to rent an apartment even if it’s just for one person. Better than sleeping in the streets. Of course, Moon attempts to haggle with Delmer to lower the price down a peg. $490 as the best bet as the price of rent and a weekly dinner with his landlord and it works. He gets $10 off of his supposed rent and with that, Moon finally got himself a house to reside in for the foreseeable future.
Going from the lodge to the car and it looks like Moon won’t be the only Tobin kid who wants to test out the adult lifestyle in this episode. Because it looks like Ham and Judy also want in the action, mostly because they want to get their hands on the mini-fridges that they want from earlier in the episode. And since Moon moved out of the house, making his old room open, it’s now the perfect opportunity for them to create their own odd jobs by playing landlord. They need the money anyway, so they might as well get jobs of their own. I mean, it’s not like Judy throughout the freaking fracking series had a job at the photography store at the mall for the first three seasons before not having to see her there ever since, especially because we haven’t seen Alyson a lot these days. But sure, Judy along with Ham are getting jobs of their own by becoming landlords now that Moon’s old room is empty.
Of course, Wolf knows what Beef is doing with Moon no longer living in the house, and now Judy and Ham becoming landlords. He tells Honeybee that this is all a game. To Beef, this is a game where he silently challenges his kids to try out the adult world and see if the decision they made like moving out of the house to experience adulthood or becoming landlords like adults will go terribly wrong and for Beef, he’ll be getting a front-row seat to the fireworks show that will soon launch as the episode progresses. I’m not saying that Beef is praying for his kids’ downfall, he’s not an asshole, he’s not a monster, it’s just they need to know that being an adult isn’t all that easy to take. Going for the expectation vs reality and for when reality is going to hit them. Though it’s incredible that Wolf is still walking on this planet after the meatball that he thought it was a meatball only to turn to be a marble and was pronounced dead for only 3 minutes. I told you, it’s that freaking anime plot armor. Nothing can kill him or any of the Tobins.
We check up on Moon for a brief moment with him getting the stuff he needs to set the place up. Having Kyle unload some stuff to decorate the place. We’re talking rocking chair, a lamp, an arcade machine, and what appears to be a run or some weird mattress that doesn’t look like an air mattress but it’s the thought that counts. It’s $43 for shipping and Moon pays $44 and told Kyle to keep the change as the game officially begins for Moon’s side of the aisle.
And so too for Judy and Ham on their first official day as co-landlords and already, they got their first tenet to rent out Moon’s room to a guy named Prenell Scramps, who came to the household with his accordion because he is attempting to break a world record for nonstop accordion playing, which the current record until the end of the episode at three days. That should be the alarm bells ringing for Ham and Judy that their first tenet is a guy who plans on playing the accordion nonstop for the next 72 hours until the record is broken. And he can’t do it at his house because his wife will leave him if he does that. That, and disturbing the neighbors. And it looks like Prenell isn’t the only person who will be moving in temporarily into Moon’s room.
We have a second person coming into the house named Meldrick, voiced by Chris Fleming, who is an observer for the Guinness World Records to see if Prenell will officially break the record. Three or more days of nonstop accordion playing across the house is something that the household needs to get used to. And oh boy, it’s gonna be a long week for everyone in the house. Scratch that, only Judy and Ham dug themselves into doing this all for the sake of getting some money to order some mini-fridges. And unless there’s this show’s version of Temu, those two might as well get used to the game of when reality is going to dropkick them. Just be thankful for Wolf, Honeybee, and an absent Dirt who doesn’t have to deal with the nonstop accordion playing since they reside outside the main house within the property. As Judy and Ham are slowly starting to regret their decision, already in the denial phase...
We go back to see what Moon is doing at the lodge that he is renting on his first night as an independent kid living by his lonesome. And he is living his best life at this point in the episode. Riding around the front porch on his bike and having to ride himself on said bike into the house. Getting his hot dog out of the boiling pot before decorating it with ketchup and... chocolate syrup and... chips that get turned into crumbs. Just looking at it when he made it almost wanted me to go and vomit. One of the examples of a struggle meal and doing it poorly. But at least Moon is enjoying his first night as a free man at a house of his own. Not having to follow the rules and do whatever the fuck he wants. Yep, as of this moment in the episode, he is enjoying the best that life can offer him. But Judy and Ham on the other hand, especially going into the morning hours the next day...
Looking like yours truly, dead and cooked. They haven’t gotten any sleep since allowing Prenell to move in and play his accordion nonstop. They looked tired after hearing the accordion nonstop and probably wished they had earplugs so they could sleep better, but this is what they chose. All this just to make some money for themselves to get them a pair of those flashy mini-fridges they saw online. So they have to live with it for at least a couple of days more or until they decide to waive the white flag and realize that the adult world isn’t all that easy. That’s pretty much what the game is and it’s an unwinnable one at that for Judy and Ham while Moon is enjoying the time of his life but oh boy, that will soon change. And speaking of Moon...
He is still enjoying his time as an independent kid as we transition to the cafeteria with Henry, Russell, and Debbie now in shock and also some jealousy that Moon actually pulled it off in having to move out of the house and can do whatever the hell he wants. One example is when is the right time to go to sleep and for Moon, he lets his body make the decision and ends up falling asleep at around 3:00 in the morning. And for his wake-up call to get him the energy he needed: just a bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red. He is definitely living the life as a free man in a house on his own and the type that Henry, Russell, and Debbie who had to stick behind and face their respective punishments, once Moon leaves to deal with Mrs. Hill about his math grades, feels jealous and think to themselves, “I want what he’s having”.
And lo and behold as we end the first half of the episode once the school ends with the nighttime hours hit with Moon just enjoying some me time outside on his rocking chair. Continuing to live as an independent kid living by himself as his second day of not living in the Tobin household is about to come to a close. That was until he saw Henry, Russell, and Debbie coming in from the hill and it looked like they were not here for a quick visit like getting a couple of drinks and just hanging out. Nope, they decided to follow Moon’s footsteps and decide to move out as well. Though unclear if they followed what Moon said about using the old law of emancipation or just deciding to run away. Regardless, Moon’s friends decide to move out of their respective homes, and for Moon, as we prepare to enter the second half of the episode, he seems glad that now, they can do whatever they want. Not knowing that the consequences of their actions, primarily from Moon’s friends, is preparing to bite Moon in the ass as the episode progress.
We enter the second half of the episode with Moon’s friends now setting themselves into the house as free kids themselves and escaping the tyranny that is their parents at their former homes. Treating it as if it’s Communist China over there just because they got punished for going on a night out being reckless like a couple of college students. Whether it’s putting a horror movie on the screen, putting up some toys, or having pairs of hermit crabs that Debbie brought as pets, it’s pretty much every kid’s dream to have a place of their own and not have to abide by the rules that their parents implemented. And that is exactly what is happening with the four having the time of their lives whether it’s eating Skittles raining from the ceiling fan or ordering 400 pieces of chicken nuggets for them to consume... 400 pieces... that is overkill if you think about it, especially with only four kids to consume that amount, they’re having the time of their life and are free to do whatever they want. Of course, the main four when it comes to Moon’s group, Moon included. Once again, poor Quinn who is absent and missing out on all of this. Of course, what happened to Judy and Ham with reality slowly coming out of the woodwork for them...
The same now goes for Moon once the overnight hours hit and while Debbie and Henry are passed out, you have Russell from inside the bathroom violently puking after eating one too many chicken nuggets. And he took the box and continued eating that whole package despite eating one too many which caused him to develop an upset stomach. The boy might as well have an addiction like it’s crack cocaine to a drug addict. Moon, at Russell’s request, attempts to tell him a bedtime story to calm him down by telling him about Russell being a knight, but gets turned down because his mom told him that story. So now, reality is starting to creep up on Moon as what he thought it was going to be him ending his second day alone at the house before thinking that it would be a good idea to have friends over... only to now start to get the idealization that maybe there should be some regulations that needed to be placed.
The one who is enjoying this as of this moment is, of course, Beef going into the next day who is really living the life because the kids thought that the adult world was going to be as easy as it looks in their point of view whether it’s moving out of the house or playing landlord but in actuality, it’s not. Especially once he gets a phone call from Gibbons that three of his kids, Moon, Judy, and Ham, have fallen asleep in the cafeteria with the lunch period already past. And yes, Gibbons knew what Beef was doing the moment Moon decided to move out and is just being okay with it and is waiting for reality to kick in. Still think that being an adult isn’t all that easy and at some point, they’ll learn a valuable lesson. All one big game and an unwinnable one for Moon, Judy, and Ham because let’s face it, you can say what you think about Americans and think that they can do whatever they want because freedom and stuff but there are also rules of law that not everything is free to do whatever the hell you want. This ain’t the fucking Purge. Of course, Moon is the first to wake up after collapsing into sleep due to having to take care of Russell and already planning on heading out. Leaving Judy and Ham alone who is still asleep at their table.
So, going back to the house and because of the nonstop accordion playing in the house that everyone can hear, it’s gotten to the point where they can’t eat dinner while all of that is happening. To the point where Beef, Wolf, and Honeybee are planning to eat out over at the diner for dinner so they don’t have to deal with any more accordion playing that is going to disturb them from eating. Judy and Ham also want to go just to get some peace and quiet for once, but they are denied by Beef because they chose this. They chose to become landlords, and that’s exactly what Beef is telling the two teenagers by telling them to stay put because it’s their responsibility to answer what the tenet, Prenell, needs without having to leave him hanging. They wanted the $400 to buy themselves the fridge, well... suck it up. You chose this. You gotta deal with it.
Going back to Moon’s side of things with Moon finally finishing cleaning up the place... only for Henry to open a can of soda and splash it to the roof, adding more problems for him having to do everything by himself as if he’s a single parent having to take care of a couple of kids. Moon decides to call it a night early, leaving Henry, Russell, and Debbie to watch a movie, which shouldn’t be harmless because it’s just them watching a simple movie, just need to lower the volume, maybe put on some subtitles, and would not create some problems that would cause even more issues for Moon to the point where he could be on the verge of reaching the breaking point. The only problem with that is the movie itself. It’s a horror movie. And you can see why Dorothy wants to get rid of the horror movies that Henry got.
In the next scene, just hours later, Moon gets a knock from Delmer and tells him about someone digging a trench that leads to a pipe bursting. And lo and behold, it was Henry who after seeing a horror movie. Thinking that the killer in the movie was coming to go after them, even though it was all just a nightmare just for seeing a horror movie for someone his age before going to bed. Enough to cause a lot of damage to something like a water pipe, already cutting the water supply for the house, and now, because of the damage caused by Henry, you can already know who has to pay for the damages.
I could say the phrase “who has it worse” as the second half of the episode progresses between Moon’s side and Judy and Ham’s side of things but looking at both of their situations, it just boils down to who has it at least decent at best. You have Judy and Ham who look like a pair of zombies that just came out of their graves. 48 hours now, about to go up to or near 72 hours with no sleep because of Prenell’s nonstop accordion playing. And in this scene, you have the two switching places to take care of him without having to stop playing, which would be good for Ham and Judy because they need the peace and quiet they need, but bad for Prenell because he needs to break the record to make a name for himself. And I guess Beef as well because Judy and Ham need to learn their lesson about responsibility when deciding to become landlords themselves just to make money and Prenell stopping could derail it even though Moon is now moments away from going through a crashout when dealing with his friends.
Ham and Judy take turns with Ham flossing his teeth and Judy having to hold Prenell’s phone so he can talk to his wife. And, of course, Beef doesn’t seem too unbothered about all of this if it means having his kids learn a lesson about why being an adult isn’t all that easy and should know the responsibility that comes with it. You could also say that Meldrick, the observer from the record book, also seems to be withstanding the whole thing and without almost 72 hours worth of no sleep but he mentions from earlier in the episode when he first entered the house that he is trained for this since he is an observer from the record book. Something that Judy and Ham wish they had when having to deal with the likes of him.
Now, going into the next day and yes, Moon is mad at his friends to the point where he has to sit at the next table away from them after what happened. Almost tried to give them the silent treatment the same way he did with Beef at the start of the episode after getting grounded which led to him wanting to move out. And now, here we go again but this time around, the tables are sort of starting to turn and it’s Moon acting like a parent rather than a kid since having to clean up his friends’ messes time and time again. To the point where thanks to Henry accidentally destroying the water pipe when frantically building a hole after seeing a scary movie, all of the money that was saved now had to be paid for repairing the damages. So, Moon has to put his foot down on the matter.
Especially going into the next scene after school where he hosts a meeting and tells them that there are going to be some changes for now in the lodge. He’s setting up a few rules for the house so that he doesn’t have to deal with any more pressure coming from his friends. The type of rules, which is any rule, that Henry, Russell, and Debbie all left their place to move into the lodge. To escape from it and now, they have to go through that again under Moon’s watch. And it’s placed for either of the three who is living in this place... well, technically two out of the three but they all have to abide by it (which they’ll ignore later). For Russell, he can’t have any more chicken nuggets because, to him, it’s pretty addictive and it’s that addiction that landed him in the toilet after violently puking due to consuming one too many pieces that led to him developing indigestion. It’s his crack cocaine but in food form. For Henry, he can’t watch any more scary movies because of what happened last night with the attempted hole that busted the pipe.
That’s pretty much Henry and Russell’s set of rules by placing restrictions but Debbie on the other hand, doesn’t have a rule placed for her. There has to be one at least other than having her and the others to stay put but Moon didn’t do that. Which might be a mistake for the guy to not restrict her from doing anything bad but on the other hand according to him, valid is what I have to say when he said that he didn’t restrict Debbie mainly because he doesn’t want to die in the lodge. Hell, Debbie herself questions why Moon didn’t even bother restricting her and Moon wants to do it but out of the three of Moon’s friends who is causing havoc to the point where Moon could be seconds away from either getting a gray hair strand or is ready to be transported to a hospital due to high blood pressure, she did little damage. She did little damage, unlike Russell or Henry who did a lot. She’s pretty much the most responsible out of the three up to this point. Moon leaves the house to attend a surrogate dinner at Delmer’s as a part of the agreement to lower the rent down $10 from the original rental price of $500.
The calm before the storm for Moon as he finishes up the dinner hour at Delmer’s place. Finishing up a table conversation about the series finale of the show MASH and how back in the day, people don’t bitch about how a show ends without having to draw in controversy over the ending. The days before the internet where back in the day, you talk to your coworkers at an office job to see if they see it or not. Moon leaves the place after the dinner and what is pretty much the only time of the day, or rather, the week, since his friends decided to move in with him, not knowing what is waiting for him once he returns to the lodge. And remember when I said that this is the calm before the storm? Well, going into the next scene to wrap up the third act of the episode and going into the fourth and final act...
Absolute chaos. The type of chaos that you think to yourselves that these are possibly fifth graders in the show and they’re acting like high school students when it comes to reckless behavior like trashing the house. Pizza on the roof, a guy chugging a jug of chocolate milk on the said roof, a boy riding in the trash bin, and toilet paper covering the house like it’s a Halloween decoration. I don’t want to jump to conclusions on who to blame for all of this but I can already guess it’s Debbie’s doing. I say that it might be her because remember, Moon restricts Henry and Russell from doing something damaging like ordering chicken nuggets because of an addiction or putting on horror movies that would cause him to go into a panic and digging holes that could damage water pipes and who knows if the next time that does happen, he could accidentally hit a gas pipeline. So, it has to be Debbie’s doing just to tell Moon to shove it when it comes to creating these restrictions. And remember, this is the same person who came up with the rouge water slide in protest of Judy and Honeybee when they placed restrictions when it came to the family pool. That’s pretty much my guess for who is the one who called for the mess that is likely going to give Moon a possible heart attack.
Entering the fourth and final act of the episode with Moon seeing the aftermath of the destruction made by his friends and now everyone from school. A bunch of 10-11-year-olds acting like freaking high school students with this type of behavior. And the damage speaks for itself going into the final act aside from what we saw outside before cutting into the final commercial break for the episode, but the inside, oh boy. Writing on the wall, a pick axe, a couple of lobsters that according to Debbie, her hermit crabs were lonely, and, of course, the hole on the floor. Yeah, you thought paying for the damaged pipe was bad for Moon to give up his entire worth just to pay for the repairs, good God, this is the type where you might as well file for bankruptcy and yes, possible eviction. And to make things worse for Moon, he looks at the now destroyed Smurfs figurines because Russell thought that there would be chocolate inside. They’re figurines, priceless figurines that are meant for collecting, not an Easter egg that the Easter Bunny hid for you to take. And to make things worse for Moon as all of this that just happened wasn’t bad enough for him...
Quite the almost deja vu with animals invading the house. You have a moose whose head is popping out of the window and eats the nuggets from the crate serving as a table. And yes, pretty much broke one of the rules that Moon implemented. Russell can’t help it. It’s his crack cocaine. And according to Russell, he can’t help it and says to Moon that he can’t help it and pretty much misses the idea of getting caught after living for days with no parental authority living under their roof. Well, it looks like Russell will be getting his wish because Moon is now undergoing a crashout and now, becomes a parent in all of this and decides to ground Henry, Russell, and Debbie as he prepares to head out to clear his head. In short, Moon became the first to waive the white flag in Beef’s little challenge that being an adult isn’t that easy to begin with.
And to no one surprise, Moon makes his way back to his house, and yes, all while the accordion is still playing in the background, with Beef spotting Moon at the table and deciding to have a one-on-one conversation at the table the same way this episode started. He tells Beef that he’s right. He’s right about how being an adult isn’t all that easy. Especially when having Henry, Russell, and Debbie around and causing a lot of problems for him to clean up. Making him the parent as if he’s taking care of three kids himself. Pretty much him waiving the white flag and questioning Beef how he, an adult, a single father, got used to all of this and Beef replies that it all comes down to something that Moon and his friends, along with Judy and Ham, should get to their thick skulls by now: responsibility. Beef is already doing that just get his kids prepared for once they enter the adult world for good once they turn 18. And even though, yes, you can be free to do whatever, responsibility and consequences have to be latched on to it and you yourself should treat it as a way to learn from your mistakes and be better. Even if, yes, there’s going to be times where it’s going to cripple you but that’s what being an adult is. No free rides but consider it a learning experience.
Moon apologizes to Beef for the crashout at the start of the episode that led to him moving out of the house and is now ready to move back in. The only problem with that is the paperwork. He signed the form and handed it to Mayor Peppers that making him an independent kid, treating it as a “no takies backies” type of law, which to him, to make it impossible to move back into the household. You just leave that Beef and Moon himself to find a loophole to reverse the decision. And hopefully, while we’re at it, pay for the damages caused by Moon’s friends at the lodge. That’s the end of Moon’s side of the bet with him now ready to move back in and now, that leaves one more to get their side of the aisle wrapped up. And that would be Judy and Ham, who Moon just now hearing accordion music playing in the background while having a heart-to-heart talk with Beef. And speaking of them...
They’re crashing out and crashing out hard. They can’t stand the noise after now having to go 72 hours with no sleep to the point where we could have a possible homicide ready to happen if Prenell doesn’t stop playing his accordion. Especially with Ham really getting ready to crash out. In Lament’s terms, Judy and Ham are the next ones up to give up and prove Beef’s point that it’s not easy being landlords because what else: responsibility. Judy and Ham of course want Prenell out since he pretty much overstayed his welcome just by playing the accordion nonstop, even though you allowed him to do just that without any giving him any ground rules other than saying “Oh, well here’s a walkie talkie and holler at us if you need something”. Didn’t say anything about a noise ordinance when having to bring his accordion unless it’s playing under the moonlight at night, so that’s on y’all for not including the no-noise rule. But it looks like Prenell did overdo his stay because remember when he moved in just to break the record that was set for three days?
He broke the record. Past the 72 hours and now going into 80 hours and four seconds and counting since playing the damn thing. 80 hours and counting... homicide. That’s all I have to say. I don’t condone it and wish no one does that but it might be homicide hours if I were them if I want to get some damn sleep. Again, I would condone it and not take that route just to get some sleep. But 80 hours worth of playing the damn thing without even stopping after going over the 72-hour mark, around the 73-hour mark at best that should’ve been the right time to stop but nope, we’re going long. Up until being interrupted while playing nonstop by the two landlords who are kicking us out. But yeah, Prenell and Meldrick are out of the house after breaking the record and for Judy and Ham, automatically waiving the white flag and learning their lesson, finally got some sleep for the first time in nearly four days.
And things, past the two-minute warning, were finally back to the way it was with Moon now back in the house after living by himself for a couple of days and the sounds of the accordion now gone. Finally getting some peace and quiet for once after this little experiment. Especially with Wolf saying that everything is all according to Beef’s plan, which he downplays it and says that Wolf doesn’t know what he is talking about. Even though it does feel like this was Beef quietly making a bet with his kids that they won’t last a week in the sneak preview that is called adulthood. This was all a game and Beef pretty much won. That’s all I have to say. The moral of the story as the Tobins decide to spend their Saturday cleaning up the mess by putting up the shattered pieces of Smurfs figurines that Moon’s friends destroyed: being an adult fucking sucks. But also to be responsible. But it’s mostly being an adult sucks.
Reaction/Thoughts:
So all and all, what do I think about this week’s episode of The Great North? Well, this was an interesting episode if I have to say so when describing it. Mostly with having the episode of someone as young as Moon deciding to move out by using an old Alaskan law as his ticket out after doing one too many mischievous actions with the action that became the final straw is the joyride across town with the Zamboni that not even Louise Belcher herself can pull it off. And that would be the trigger to cause Moon to move out of the house.
I mean, sure, we know that the messaging is all about having to learn the facts that being an adult isn’t all that easy for each of the Tobin kids whether it’s Moon moving out or Judy and Ham having to take up the role of becoming landlords, it’s like the mindset of kids these days or back in the day, you thought that adults always get whatever they can do because they get the most freedom than the kids and not having to deal with the rules that were implemented but ended up learning the hard way with Moon having to deal with his friends after they followed in his footsteps and both Judy and Ham having to deal with Prenell playing the accordion nonstop. You could say that it’s a corny message for sure that there’s going to be a responsibility that needs to be taken care of when going into adulthood, especially when having a preview of what life holds for them, but it might as well be taken as a lesson that you need to learn so you don’t make that exact mistake. Just be thankful that we don’t have that abomination of a song from that one Bob’s Burgers episode from a few years back.
If there is one who is pretty much enjoying this all too much while this whole experiment is going on throughout the episode, that would be Beef. And I had to alliterate, this isn’t him praying for his kids’ downfall but more or less of him wanting to let his kids know without even telling them that it’s not going to be easy. There are no free rides. You chose this life and you gotta be responsible in all of this, whether you like it or not. And the best part is that he doesn’t need to yell out in public. He doesn’t need to turn it into a bet with his kids whether it’s Moon who decided to move out or Judy and Ham having to play landlord because they need the money for a set of mini-fridges. The dude out here is playing five-dimensional chess with this so-called bet just so his kids learn their lesson once things get out of hand. This was all a game and Beef pretty much won without anyone but Wolf knowing it. Other than that, it’s an interesting episode though average at best would be the way to go. I’ll give “Bust a Moon Adventure”...
A 7 out of 10. But that’s my opinion and I wanna hear yours in the comments below. And tune in this upcoming Sunday with another episode and for the first time since her debut just last season, Aunt Dirt is finally getting her first major episode as she helps the school debate team after getting caught by Gibbons after pretending to be a lunch lady so she can get close with one of the other lunch ladies at the school in the sixth episode of Season 5 in “Can’t Hardly Debate Adventure”.
Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads for updates and behind-the-scenes stuff. The 2025 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament is officially here. The double matches continue in the 2025 Battle of the Week Voting Tournament with the second match of the Group A and Group B stages between Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop) and Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon) in Group A and Roronoa Zoro (One Piece) and Levi Ackerman (Attack on Titan) is, of course, currently open at the time of posting. The poll closes on Saturday. And y’all should know the drill by now with the reviews now back and running...
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/yahoo201027
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/yahoo201027
- Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/Y8Y8K4OP
Donate over at PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi pages to help your boy out in both improving the bills and keeping the lights on to pump some content for y’all to embrace my BS. And until the next time, stay safe, get vaccinated, and a reminder that you’re loved, you’re beautiful, ignore the haters, and I’ll see y’all later.
***The Great North is owned by 20th Television Animation, Bento Box Animation, and Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin, and Minty Lewis. Please Support the Official Release***
No comments:
Post a Comment